Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

Peonie

Wow, 6 trees plus more!

I want to get a second tree for the hallway, it will look welcoming and I'll have somewhere to hang all over my silver and glass decorations that don't match my red and gold traditional theme on the main tree.

l.m.hart wrote: »

I also get completely fed up of the tree after Christmas it always looks so baron once the presents have gone, so i normally take mine down the day after Boxing Day, im a real bah humbug arent i:rotfl:

Oh no, you don't have to do that. I have a stack of nice Xmas boxes and sacks (bought in the sales), during the year I keep my decorations in them and at Xmas they go under the tree with presents in them, and everyone knows they stay with me and are not part of the present. Afterwards the boxes go back under the tree so it does not look empty. Plus I don't have to buy rolls and rolls of wrapping paper each year.

newgirly

The trees are up, but we stuck with 4 :xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::D
Which lets me get creative with colour schemes, we have a huge mulicoloured one in the main room with hundreds of mismatched coloured decs and lots of sentimental ones, the conservatory has a silver/white and see through theme and the hall is a white tree with very modern bright colour scheme.

I'm not sure how but 6 left over trees went back up in the loft. Most of them are tiddly kids ones though.

The only reason I wanted them up early is because I'm lazy and wanted to get it out of the way as its over a day's work, but I am the same and usually take it all down a couple of days after xmas.

The kids are all off school due to the strike tomorrow and I will be having some kids round to play in the afternoon, hopefully I will get the use of my laptop at some point as they are constantly on it when they are at home.

newgirly

Another busy day today:

• did work for dh
• had boys friend's round to play
• washed 10 ish loads and dried
• tidied garden
• cooked roast chicken/chicken curry/veggie curry
• wrapped rest of presents except kids netbooks
• cleaned whole house

Tomorrow I am cleaning with my friend again, plus work for dh. Also next week I have some extra cleaning from my dad who has a tennant moving out of one of his houses.

I feel I have been neglecting the mfw threads lately and need to catch up a bit with what everyone is doing, i shall try to do that tonight if i can stay awake.:D

CathT

Wow at all the trees, does get you feeling all christmassy though doesn't it. Am looking forward to putting our tree up but need to do a 'spring clean' first! Not finding the opportunity with a 3yo and a 2 month old. Well done on getting presents wrapped too, I haven't wrapped a thing yet but usually like to do it over a few evenings with a glass of wine!

newgirly

Now I have switched the heating on I can feel my fingers to type.;)

I've had a pretty non constructive day, managing to go food shopping and we still don't seem to have much to eat. Tonight we are having a takeaway with my parents who are very kindly paying.
Other than that all I have managed to do is but a dress for myself for xmas. I did try it on yesterday and resisted, but today it was online reduced from £45 to £22.50 with 10% cashback and free delivery so I just had to buy it.:D Its bright red and floor length so it will do for a posh do we have next year as well which will save money as in spring its harder to get that sort of thing cheaply. (well thats my excuse anyway, plus dh said he will pay for it!)

My purse is very empty at the moment, I think I will draw out all the cash I have until the end of the year , as I really need to get used to just using cash and not relying on cards, actually drawing out or spending £10 a day on the card is not realistic as in the long run it just means more trips to the petrol station and shops, I will have to start having more no spend days.

This weekend I need to do more work for dh , hopefully it will pick up from now until xmas, but things are pretty dire in his line of work now. Lots of similar business' are struggling as well so fingers crossed it picks up in the new year. Its s*ods law really , up until a couple of years ago we had huge bonus's that were frittered away, now we have finally started being sensible theres no money to be careful with, oh well you live and learn I suppose.

newgirly

Aargh! DH has now decided we may need to invest next year in the business, so possibly might have to save as of january or maybe get a loan.:( Either way though, it should mean that fingers crossed a larger income in the future.

I suppose sometimes you have to take a small risk in the hope it pays off in the future. I definatly would prefer to save than borrow if we can though, but I will have to alter my 2012 mfw target of £10K and its not even 2012 yet.

It looks like my op's will have to come from my moneymaking challenge next year, I am trying to find a thead that will fit in with what I want to do which is earn extra from surveys/cashback/ebay, plus any odd bits of work I can get through the year like cleaning maybe doing a xmas market stall, that sort of thing. The £12K in 2012 challenge seems too high a target and also includes money saving from BOGOFS, half prices items you buy etc, but I would like to just count extra earnings so that I can maybe re-invest the money through the year to make more (seriously wishful thinking here!) then at the end of the year I will have a real amount of cashb that will have come just from my extra efforts and not through money earnt by dh.

Perhaps I will just put the challenge on my thread in another colour to keep track.Hmm.

newgirly

I feel like I am not going anywhere financially at the moment. I have'nt made an op for weeks.:(

I know its a dodgy time of year, but I have really lost my mojo! We just seem to be spending left right and centre and none of it is planned for really,today I have spent rather a lot on cleaning stuff from the 99p shop for the extra job I am doing this week, I'm not sure if I will end up making much though.

Christmas is a time of extravagance for us usually, and I have spent a lot on the kids main presents this year, but I have been more careful with everyone else's and have even managed to finish a sock monkey for my aunt. I just feel like I should be doing better.

never_too_old

I know what you mean, i go through stages where im disheartned.You have done so well and probably would be in a lot worse position if you hadn't tightened the reigns. I think we are all hoping next year will be a better year ,the phone has just stopped ringing here which is worrying.
I only op a £1 to the mortgage some days,im sure they do hate me doing this but its allowed so i do.Seem to have so many people i need to send money too and am really looking forward to the day when our hard earned money is our own (well some of it at least):D

newgirly

Thanks NTO, I want to spend a while looking at my re-worked budget to see if I have made it a bit too tight as everypenny is earmarked for either bills / kids or oping. maybe I should make a bit more breathing space. Whatever budget I make i want to be able to say I have reached my target at the end of next year not fallen short.

My laptop lead is broken and dh has taken his to work so i have a very grumpy ds2 as I won't let him use the little battery left.;)

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Good morning Newgirly, I am still a newbie really to this forum, however, I have read your diary and your focus and determination is marvellous. I have the same thoughts about how we used to live and squander money. I know we would have been MF years ago if we had had the attitudes we have now but, we all learn at different times, I guess for different reasons, and some don't learn at all.

Your mojo will return, I think it is probably just feeling a bit overwhelmed. Xmas is a time of real hype and although consciously you do (we all do) all possible to ignore it and focus on the necessities, these marketing and sales gerus exploit our inner child and guilt complexes brilliantly. They are paid vast amounts of money to persuade us to part with it.

Do you think having a small pot of 'do whatever I like with it' money would help. Then if you were feeling low you could, searching for examples now, buy some flowers, or a hand cream, take the kids out for a walk and buy them ice creams? Not sure it would help but when your budget leaves you with no wiggle room, you can guarantee you will want to wiggle. If you give yourself a wiggle pot, then you may not need it - hope this makes sense.

Last thought, what's your favourite pastime? Something that you love doing. Are you able to take a little time out to recharge your batteries doing this, or does it have a big £ by it, in which case, perhaps you can have a fund just for this, to give yourself a small treat once a quarter perhaps?

I hope you don't mind me stopping by with a few thoughts. It's hard when you are in the middle of stuff to take a moment t stop and think, which is why these diaries are so hugely helpful. Your mojo will return

Best wishes, Tilly